Thursday, January 20, 2011

A Taste You Can See!

Good evening everyone. Last weekend, Maggie picked up a new cookbook. Curtis Stone's newest cookbook to be more specific: Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone: Recipes to Put You in My Favorite Mood Like anyone who just bought a new cookbook, Maggie was eager to start making some of the recipes right away. It's my personal experience that you can tell a lot about a cookbook after one or two recipes. If the first few things you make end up as duds - something is wrong with the book. If the first few recipes knock your taste buds into a new dimension of OHMYGOODNESSTHATSGOOD! Then you might have something worth while.

So far, Maggie has only made two recipes from this new book. The first was the WORLD'S GREATEST COOKIE recipe (yes, all caps are needed to emphasize just how amazing these little morsels are.) The second, cinnamon french toast, had a lot of pressure on it. If it turned out amazing - this could be a great cookbook. A dud and we might have a new shelf decoration. How did it turn out? Well, I'll turn the keyboard over to Maggie so she can tell you herself.

*Bonus points for those who get the classic breakfast cereal reference in the blog title

Good evening everyone! As Tyler mentioned, as soon as I get a cookbook, I immediately look for a good recipe...not only that, but looking at the pictures makes my mouth water. As soon as I saw this recipe, I knew it was something I had to try right away. Of course, I had high expectations that the recipe would taste as good as it's looks. Would it live up to my culinary hype?

Begin with the french toast. Beat the eggs in a 9x13 baking dish. Place the bread in the eggs until they have absorbed the liquid, about five minutes. Turn the bread over and have the other side absorb the eggs, another five minutes.

Next, caramelize the peaches: Combine the 1/2 cup sugar with a 1/4 cup water in a saute pan. Stir until the sugar to dissolved and the liquid comes to a simmer. Boil over medium high heat, without stirring. If there is any excess sugar on the sides of the pan, brush down with a wet pastry brush (although a plastic pastry brush would not work the best in this situation...the pan is hot and will probably curl and/or melt said brush - a word to the wise.) Swirl the pan occasionally to make sure the syrup cooks evenly, about six minutes or until it's golden brown. Another tip: The syrup can turn from a light yellow color to a light tan color in a few seconds, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled!

After the syrup is a golden brown color, immediately remove from heat and add the peaches and butter; swirl until the butter is melted. Return to the heat and cook over medium high heat for two minutes and set the peaches aside.

Stir the cinnamon and the 1/4 cup sugar together on a plate and set aside. Melt the remaining butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the egg soaked bread to the pan and cook for two minutes on each side or until it's golden brown and heated through.

Immediately from the hot pan, place the French toast in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and coat completely on both sides. Top with the caramelized peaches (and syrup, if you want a little more sweetness,) serve and enjoy!

The Results:

Quite possibly, the best French toast I have ever had. The peaches added a nice tang to the overall sweetness to the dish. The cinnamon and sugar mixture made a nice finishing touch and would work really well on it's own. In the description of the recipe, Curtis makes note that any fruit that is in season would work with this recipe. I would love to try it with apples or possibly bananas. Overall, a great recipe to add to the "Make Again" category.

Thanks Maggie! (Looks like we've got a cookbook winner here! You can get a cookbook winner by buying our cookbook too! Follow the link on the right hand side of the blog) That's all we have for you this week. We're back at our usual time on Monday with another week's worth of amazing and insightful culinary news - followed up with another full week of cooking and excitement! Have a good weekend everyone! Until Monday,

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Out of the culinary

The young chefs

About Us

Tyler and I are two young professionals, who aren't completely professional in cooking. We simply got tired of eating pre-cooked and frozen meals and decided to do something about it. Our goal here is to take the (sometimes) daunting culinary world and bring it down to the everyday level. Essentially, we're two non-chefs showing you how to cook like a chef. It's not always perfect - but it is always fun!